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Thanks to the English label Dirty Water Records to send one to me of his more recent launchings to review. One is a double CD with the demolishing amount of 40 songs of pure and absolute rock & roll! The one in charge to carry out all the subjects is Sir Bald Diddley with his different musical projects.

Two CDs, four bands, one common denominator: Sir Bald Diddley. Or is it Hipbone Slim? There's a severe case of spilt personality going down over these 40 tracks and it's prime stuff for lovers of the garage/surf/beat/exotic rock genres.

Playing like a schizophrenic battle of the bands within the insatiable creativity of one man ably aided by his equally skilled and hungry cohorts, Hipbone Slim vs. Sir Bald is simply one thrilling treat to let loose all those inhibitions to. The album is a forty track double CD release bursting with unadulterated goodness and mastery from the King of UK rock n roll, Sir Bald Diddley.

Aug 14, 2014

Various

Hipbone Slim vs. Sir Bald

November 27th 2012DWC1063, Dirty Water RecordsRock and Roll, CD, download

Sir Bald Diddley is one of the most ubiquitous men in rock’n’roll, with his numerous surf, rock’n’roll, garage, blues, R&B and rockabilly bands. He’s been described as “Britain’s string king” in reference to his wild and fiery guitar style, influenced by Bo Diddley, Link Wray, Chuck Berry, Dick Dale and the like, and his singing, meanwhile, has been said to sound like “Ricky Nelson gone very wrong”! For your aural delectation, we have assembled no less than four of the Bald Bomber’s top notch musical combos on this 40 track long set, which runs the full gamut of rock’n’roll styles.

On the first of this two-CD set you will find 20 cuts, previously unreleased on compact disc format, by Hipbone Slim & the Kneetremblers, a band that plays proper rock’n’roll! Alongside Sir Bald (aka Hipbone Slim) is Bruce ‘Bash’ Brand (drums), one of Britain’s if not the world’s finest rock’n’roll drummers, a veteran of such bands as the Milkshakes and Headcoats, alongside Billy Childish, as well as Holly Golightly’s band, the Masonics, and more. He has also worked with the Pretty Things, Downliners Sect, Wreckless Eric, Mungo Jerry and made two albums with Link Wray along the way. Gastus Receedus (bass/harmonica), has played in many a band (Big Wigs, Arousers, Playboys, etc) and worked with many a rock’n’roll legend – Billy Lee Riley, Sonny Burgess, Dale Hawkins, and Don & Dewey to name but a few! Hipbone Slim & the Kneetremblers take rock’n’roll, rhythm’n’blues, whatever you want to call it, and give it their own unique stamp and energy. They have somehow captured the true essence of rock’n’roll in a way that very few have been able to do in a very long time.

Meanwhile, on the other disc in this super-deluxe set, you will find Louie and the Louies, The Kneejerk Reactions and The Legs. This really is a true battle of the bands! Albeit in a somewhat ‘schizophrenic’ manner!

The Louies, as the name might suggest play frat rock type tunes and surf instrumentals. The band features one of Britain’s most dynamic rhythm sections, Matt “Sleepy Louie” Radford on bass guitar and Brian “Ramblin’” Louie Nevill on drums. Between them they have worked with many celebrated, fantastic and influential rhythm’n’blues and rock’n’roll acts. Louie & the Louies have a couple of 45s released (on Alopecia in the UK and Butterfly in Spain) and can also be heard on “Sir Bald’s Hairy Guitar” on Beast Records. The boys are also karate experts, as clearly pictured on their record sleeve!

The Kneejerks Reactions are sworn enemies of Hipbone Slim and, in fact, all rockabillies, greasers, cats and teddy boys. The two bands’ bitter rivalry and relentless antagonism regularly threatens to spill over into some quite unsavoury scenes, with a number of bank holiday rumbles and punch-ups being witnessed in the seaside towns of the England and beyond. Arch hipsters and beatsters, dare I say it modsters (?!) the dandified Kneejerk Reactions feature the East End savy of Les Lerrard on bass and general “heavy” duties, plus Ronnie Drand on drums and general “light” duties. The Kneejerk Reactions have one “sold out” album ‘The Electrifying Sounds Of…’ on Screaming Apple Records (Germany) and an EP “The Un-beatable Sounds Of” on Vinyl Junkie Rekkids (Spain). A second album is currently in production, although the band’s planned recording and gigging schedule has been somewhat put on hold due to Les currently “doing time in musical theatre” as we like to call it. You will no doubt have realised, as have countless disappointed punters coming to see the two bands in live “battle”, that they are in fact one and the same, and probably demand your money back!

In The Legs the “shiny-headed one” is joined by two of Spain’s finest beat merchants. Both Jorge Explosion and Mr Pibli are more regularly seen in the notorious Doctor Explosion, Spain’s top garage-punk band. The Legs really mix it up, playing a hotch-potch of freakbeat, punk, garage, blues and more. Here we have included a wide variety of such offerings. The Legs are somewhat inactive at present – however, several sessions have produced the best part of an unreleased album and the guys did even manage some shows once.

Jorge also runs the fantastic Circo Perrotti Studio, where which many of these tracks were recorded. In fact all the tunes on this album were recorded using only the finest vintage analogue facilities, either at Jorge’s estudio in Asturias or London’s very own Gizzard and Toe Rag Studios (with Mr Ed Deegan at the controls). If you are a fan of raw and wild guitar rock‘n’roll, surf, garage and beat music of the late ’50s and ’60s, you are sure to enjoy this marvellous record. Fifty years too late, maybe, but still, you can’t have everything! Forty pulsating, toe tappin’, leg shakin’, keg shakin’, kneetrembin’ rockers! Thuddin’drums, throbbin’ bass, yelpin’ vocals and very, very hairy guitar!

In the red corner we have Hipbone Slim. In the blue corner we have Sir Bald. Now let’s have a nice clean fight lads. Protect yourself at all times. Okay, touch gloves and come out at the bell…

Tracklisting

In The Red Corner (on disc one): Hipbone Slim & the Kneetremblers:

1. King Tut Strut2. Crawl Back To Me3. Shrunken Head4. Good For Nothin’5. You Ain’t No Great Shakes6. Ooga Booga Rock7. High On Hog8. Food Man Chew9. Time To Kill10. The Twitch11. Bury The Hatchet12. I Hear An Echo13. Tornado14. Hold On, Here I Come15. Run Me Ragged16. Swagger17. Set You On Fire18. Snake PitLightnin’ Strikes19. Hey Diana20. Nothin’ Means Nothin’

In The Blue Corner (on disc two): Louie & the Louies:

1. Louieville2. There Ain’t No End In Sight3. Marrakech4. Tides Gonna Turn5. Backfire6. Birdman7. What I Gotta Do?8. Standoff9. Put A Rocket Up It

The Kneejerk Reactions:

10. You Don’t Know Right From Wrong11. That Was Then12. Wastin’ My Time13. Where’s McComb?14. Things Are Turnin’ Ugly

The Legs:

15. Legless16. Gotta Eat17. Ain’t The End of the World18. Bite Your Lip19. Fell For You20. Up The Ante